Students’ naked stunt lands them in hot water

By Wu Sheng-ju and Jason Pan / Staff reporter, with staff writer

Sat, Aug 31, 2013 - Page 5

A group of college students in Keelung allegedly tried to impress their female friends by streaking down a road, but their naked running stunt drew the ire of police, with officers now seeking to charge them with an offense against public decency.

Witnesses said they saw a group of males streaking on a street in Keelung last Saturday night. Street surveillance cameras and people with smartphones also captured images of the streakers.

According to a police investigation, the students were recent graduates from National Taiwan Ocean University and members of the university’s basketball team. Celebrating their recent graduation, they held a dinner party at 6pm at a restaurant on Keelung’s Dongming Road which included substantial amounts of beer. They were joined by about 20 other schoolmates, including female students.

By about 9pm, most of the senior students were visibly drunk, witnesses said, adding that as they attempted to impress the female students, the seniors began to dare each other to streak.

Led by two students surnamed Wu (吳) and Tsai (蔡), the group of eight removed their clothing, leaving only their underwear, and walked to the entrance of the restaurant, witnesses said.

From there, they took off their underwear and ran naked to a gas station about 30m away. The street was full of traffic and pedestrians, according to witness accounts.

Some pedestrians reacted by recording the scene on their smartphones.

After streaking, the students put their underwear back on and left by hailing taxis, witnesses said.

However, one student was not so fortunate, as someone had thrown his underwear back inside the restaurant, so he had to go back to retrieve it.

“Many female customers were startled, then screamed when the naked young man walked in,” one witness said.

The police said they later found out which university the students attended and brought in Wu and Tsai for questioning.

A police spokesperson said that the students would be charged with an offense against sexual morality and the case would be taken up by the Keelung District Prosecutors’ Office.